Farm Website Allows You to 'Meet America's Farmers'

Center for Food Integrity is turning to YouTube to tell the story of modern production agriculture.

Apr 12, 2012

Consumers looking for information about modern agriculture can turn to YouTube for help with the start of a YouTube channel started by the Center for Food Integrity. Called "Meet America's Farmers" the new farm-focused channel - www.YouTube.com/MeetAmericasFarmers - has videos featuring modern farmers. In addition, the organization is encouraging farmers and farm organizations to create their own videos for the channel, using "a shared values approach to connect with customers," the organization says in its announcement.

TELLING THE STORY: New YouTube presence from the Center for Food Integrity aims to show consumers mordern ag and its benefits.

CFI research indicates early adopting consumers want more information about how food is grown on the farm. Consumers who participated in the research specified videos hosted by farmers would be highly useful and help build their confidence and trust in today’s farming. The 146 videos currently on the channel feature 79 different farmers from 12 states and 16 commodity groups and were shot and produced for use during Farmers Feed US programs over the past three years.

“The ‘Meet America’s Farmers’ YouTube channel is a great opportunity for farmers to demonstrate that while farms come in all shapes and sizes, the commitment of farmers to growing safe, nutritious, affordable food responsibly is consistent from coast to coast,” says Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Center for Food Integrity. “The goal is to feature a wide variety of farms and farmers, regardless of size, scale, location, product or production practices. Opening the digital barn door will help build public trust in agriculture. We encourage farmers and farm organizations to contribute more videos to showcase the great diversity in farming.”

CFI has also written guidelines to provide farmers with criteria for developing their own videos, which can be found on CFI’s Farmer Resource Center - www.cfiengage.com. CFI will also furnish Flip cameras and support to individual farmers interested in shooting their own videos.

Those interested in more information about how they can contribute to the “Meet America’s Farmers” YouTube channel can contact Mark Crouser at [email protected].

We've included a sample of the videos you'll find at the site on this page.